Valentine’s Marathon: I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)

I love Michelle Pfeiffer (and Meg Ryan) a lot and for those reasons, I always try to work in their movies into my schedule as much as I can. Its absolutely slim pickings on Netflix for these movies but we do have two right now that just popped up again. In the heart of a romantic comedy, I decided to check out I Could Never Be Your Woman. I have never heard of this movie before so I know very little about what to expect or what its all about. Still, its Michelle Pfeiffer and when the film started, there’s a very young Saoirse Ronan as well, so I think this movie is already looking up.

I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)

Director (and writer): Amy Heckerling

Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Saoirse Ronan, Paul Rudd, Stacey Dash, Fred Willard, Jon Lovitz, Tracey Ullman

A mother falls for a younger man while her daughter falls in love for the first time. Mother Nature messes with their fates. – IMDB

I Could Never Be Your Woman is an odd movie. Odd doesn’t mean that it wasn’t entertaining but rather that I can’t quite pinpoint how I feel about it. On one hand, it ticks the typical romantic comedy sort of story and feels a little like a partial Clueless reunion tour with Stacey Dash and Paul Rudd doing the high school things since Amy Heckerling did write and direct this movie. The movie feels like the other side of the camera of Clueless if anything. None of these things are bad things. Clueless is a fun movie and remains that way even if its dialogue and fashion is dated so in some ways, this makes this one feel slightly nostalgic levels. My only issue with it was really some over the top scenes that seem fairly ridiculous and made myself feel kind of embarassed to watching it happen. Maybe that was the film’s intention, who knows, right?

In terms of characters and performances, the cast here does a great job. I mean, we have a winning cast in Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd and Saoirse Ronan. Its funny to talk about Paul Rudd because over the years, he has done some good stuff but when you ask me what, I only remember very few of it. Here, he delivers on his role and is quite fun to watch, especially when he does all his silly things to make the woman he likes smile. He has some boyish charm that seems to not fade away since his Clueless days. Playing opposite him is Michelle Pfeiffer as Rosie, a divorced mom who is the writer of this high school series with dropping viewership and trying to fight through her feelings against falling for this young guy. In many ways, Michelle Pfeiffer is always great for this role because you can see that she still is beautiful and charming no matter the age difference here. While I think the issue here is that I felt like the characters themselves were decent but as a romantic comedy, it did lack a bit of chemistry. If you were to watch this for its funny moments, well, there is a lot of those.

However, my favorite part of this was Saoirse Ronan who debuts in a movie role and it is so obvious how talented she is. She plays as Rosie’s 13 year old daughter, Izzie who is believes she is falling in love with a boy in school and trying to get his attention. She is genuine and believable and so creative. She reminded me deeply of how it was to be in some silly high school crush back in my high school days and going through the phase of making everything feel more significant than it should. Of course, part of the best parts is watching her change the lyrics of two 90s pop songs and its both brilliant and awesome. Izzie is way ahead of her time and in the world of learning about loving this boy, Dylan who seems not worth her time, there are some valuable lessons here, even if its about loving who you are and believing that you are good enough. It was an fun experience to watch Rosie and Izzie’s mother and daughter relationship here as they each go through their first step into love both in different stages of life.

Overall, I Could Never Be Your Woman is a fun and silly romantic comedy. It falls a little flat on the romance department but has enough comedic moments to make up for it. Its just some simple harmless fun with a great cast who delivers on their performances, regardless if its Paul Rudd and his boyish charms or Michelle Pfeiffer and her elegant wit and especially the Saoirse Ronan, who proves that she was talented right from her debut role here that she’s made for success. While I can’t quite pinpoint the Mother Nature angle, played by Tracey Ullman, that it started with, it still brought in some nice banter and humor.

Netflix A-Z: The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

Next up on the Netflix A-Z after a little break is a Netflix Original called The Fundamentals of Caring released this year. Netflix exclusives have been quite good. More referring to TV series than movies since this is the first one I’ve seen, but the cast is cool. I like all three of the leads. Plus, Netflix A-Z is all about digging up some cool movies in the crazy variety of choices available. Fantasia Festival is going through a little gap of screenings so I’m taking the opportunity to catch up on this segment.

Let’s check it out!

The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

Director: Rob Burnett

Cast: Craig Roberts, Paul Rudd, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Ehle, Megan Ferguson

A man suffering an incredible amount of loss enrolls in a class about care-giving that changes his perspective on life.-IMDB

The Fundamentals of Caring is odd. Its not exactly a bad movie but at some moments, it seems to take a rather predictable route for a movie that could have a bigger impact on our connection to the characters or to the situation itself. Perhaps that is the real problem: connecting with the characters. The premise it takes its a good one. Its one that as a drama or comedy or whatnot, it can take us on a fun and inspiring journey about a man who is a writer turned caregiver going through a divorce after losing a son in some way that is slowly revealed to us. Its about a teenage boy raised by a single mother whose father left when he was diagnosed and has never seen the world who gets the chance to finally see all the lame landmarks he has penciled in. And on the road, they meet up with a young girl who also is going by herself to Denver because she believes there’s more there while we also know that she is having issues with her father. Notice the connection of fatherhood going on (along with pain and loss).

Lets take a look at the characters. All of them do a decent job. Craig Roberts, plays Trevor, our main character who is a young adult suffering from muscular dystrophy since he was three. He carries a compelling role and in many ways does the best job out of the three main characters here. Maybe its because he has a disability and that this is his first trip and we start seeing a lot of his strength and braveness questioned and conquered. In the end, he is still a joker despite his situation. He pulls the most ridiculous jokes like faking choking and all that. But he also is interesting because his characters changes in moods quite a bit and in the end, he manages to show us that its not disabilities that make him different. In fact, seeing the world and encountering new things and having dreams come true even if its just seeing the World’s Deepest Pit, makes him a very real person. It reminds us that its the simple things. Just like the best moment and character defining moment is when he is asked what he would do if he could stand suddenly and he answers: to pee standing up.

One of the best moments are between Trevor and his caregiver Ben Benjamin, who is played by Paul Rudd. I can’t say that I connected with the character of Ben a lot. It is done fairly well that there is definitely something that is holding him down and it has to do with his son’s death but only get what happens afterwards and in between some hints of what happen. It also makes us question why he became a caregiver and it is an issue that is asked, which is a good one because this is where we also get to question his character and whether the deeds he does for Trevor is for himself or for Trevor’s benefit. The relationship between the two is the highlight of the film.

 Another thing The Fundamentals of Caring truly emphasizes is that Trevor is in control of his future despite his muscular distrophy. No one will judge him quite as much as himself if he lets it bring him down. Its what makes his first encounter with meeting with Selena Gomez’s character Dot, a somewhat run away hitchhiking young adult, seem fun. He is awkward and nervous like other boys seeing a girl they crush on but eventually finds the courage to just be himself. Except we can’t ignore Dot. While I feel like her performance is a little weaker and its also because she doesn’t have as much screen time but she brings a different energy on screen and perhaps a different humor. That can also be said for their next final pick-up off the side of the road as they pick up Megan Ferguson’s character, Peaches who is a simple-minded distressed mom-to-be.

However, it is hard to pinpoint what didn’t seem to go down so well. Maybe its that it still felt a little awkward but it seemed to want to have that teenage angst to it especially because the character Trevor has really only lived in his comfort zone. Maybe its that some of the relationships seemed rushed or not as able to connect to. It seems hard to think about the flaws and its empty when I can’t even pinpoint it but while its not a perfect film, the heart of The Fundamentals of Caring is there. It sends some good messages that perhaps may be wrapped up in a rather predictable storyline but it does work for the most part. Our characters are engaging and are different in their own issues that they deal with. They each teach us something different. In the end, its a rather heartwarming experience. You know what this is good for? A rainy day.

Have you seen The Fundamentals of Caring? What did you think?

G Selection is a drama thriller with Orlando Bloom. Any guesses?

Ant-Man (2015)

Now we know its time for Captain America Civil War, its coming up this weekend and I’m stoked! Next up on the watch list is Ant-Man.  I’m not going to lie that I like Paul Rudd but I’ve never really seen anything that has wowed me yet. Ant-Man has a good enough trailer but nothing that screamed for me to go see it especially since it was released during Fantasia Festival time so I was busy going to see all those lovely indie films that I didn’t catch this one.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Ant-Man (2015)

Director: Peyton Reed

Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, Michael Pena

Armed with a super-suit with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, cat burglar Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.-IMDB

Ant-Man is an interesting addition to the Marvel universe.  For one, I had no idea what to expect since I don’t even know what Ant-Man’s story is to start with.  After watching Avengers: Age of Ultron and having movies for the bigger names in the universe like Ironman and Captain America and Thor, etc., its nice to see the little guys get their own movie.  I mean, Daredevil and Jessica Jones and that universe being created on Netflix series is fantastic for those characters because there is more story and character to build up.  Ant-Man doesn’t really have a lot of skills and I’m going to guess that its hard to make a lot more out of his character although I wouldn’t mind seeing more.  Ant-Man in general is a different experience where its pretty toned down.  There are pretty much two action scenes which makes for a more quiet movie focused on how Ant-Man came to be.  And that’s work well enough to slow things down and build on what the Pym Particle is and what this is all about: how Ant-Man’s suit and science works.  In the heart of Marvel’s style, there is still quite some good humor to keep things light-hearted.

 One of the best parts of Ant-Man that surprised me since I’m not a huge fan of most of the cast, not that they aren’t talented, is the characters.  Ant-Man grew on me in his fatherly ways.  I still felt like some parts didn’t make a whole lot of sense and then I think about how much they can go with Ant-Man as a character and I don’t feel like there’s a lot more to do with it other than building a supporting Avenger since the team seems to original team after Ultron seems to be busy with their own worlds and lives. Paul Rudd gives a charming performance of Ant-Man as is Michael Douglas as Dr. Pym and the even seemingly smaller role his daughter Hope has.  Although she seems to be in the background, I don’t remember a whole lot except being there to inevitably form a connection/relationship with Ant-Man in a love and hate fashion, I guess. Its been a while I’ve seen Michael Douglas in any movie and this is a decent one.

Most of the time the supporting characters in the background turn out to be expendable jokers can actually hurt the movie but in this case, the three guys that Paul Rudd brings in to help actually turn out to add to the humor of the story, keeping it light and fun.  I do like Marvel movies because of that a lot and these three, while still sometimes being a little stupid, wasn’t bothersome to watch.  It helped to set possibly the tone of what Ant-Man and further stories would be, especially since it has already announced a sequel, not that I have the slightest on how that is going to turn out. I’m not sure about T.I. yet but Michael Pena’s Luis and David Dastmalchian’s Kurt both delivered some chuckles for me.

Finally, we’re talking about the villain, YellowJacket/Darren Cross, whichever you prefer to choose. Darren Cross is a little crazy and obsessed over finding the serum/particle, whatever you call it, that can answer how to shrink a person and prove that he can do it also just like his mentor, Hank Pym. The hateful, crazy and obnoxious personality he has was done so good.  The moment he steps on screen, you know he’s the bad guy because you just want to punch him in the face.  Now that is some impressive acting.  There’s not a lot of build-up for his character and in fact, more screen time doesn’t always make him a great villain but I think in the spectrum of things, he embodies a villain better than other Marvel movies are because he’s human and really out of it. That point is reinforced when he’s not the YellowJacket for a long time in Ant-Man either.

Overall, Ant-Man is a nice addition to the Marvel universe.  Maybe not my favorite but it is full of quite charming individuals.  I’m not sure what to look forward to in its sequel but I’m down with Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and his character in its most clueless way, should being some more laughs just like this one has.  It felt light and fun which is weird because this is supposed to be a sci-fi thriller according to IMDB. As a superhero movie, it hits the points it needs to and that is what matters. It was definitely an unexpected turn of events for me because it did start off a little slow.

Have you seen Ant-Man? What do you think about it?

Clueless (1995)

Earlier this week, I posted up the review on Emma for The Classics Adventure. You can check that out HERE if you missed it.

As normal, I went searching for the adaptations.  Unfortunately all the actual adaptations wasn’t available on Netflix.  The only one was Clueless.  I’ve seen Clueless a ton of times but I like it a lot.  It has been a few years since I revisited it though so I’m pretty excited to watch this again.

Plus, its a nice little break from the random Netflix picks.  At least I’m sure a good bunch of you have already seen this or at least heard of it 🙂

Clueless (1995)

Director: Amy Heckerling

Cast: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, Elisa Donovan, Jeremy Sisto, Brecklin Meyer, Dan Hedaya

A rich high school student tries to boost a new pupil’s popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way.- IMDB

Clueless was among one of the first chick flicks that I ever watched in my life.  It was a good start because its also a very fun movie to watch.  The reimagining of Emma into Clueless helped me a lot in reading the actual novel this time around. I could relate to the characters and even though there were little changes and differences to the source material, it still held a good part of the entertainment especially in the character of Emma who is now Cher in this modernized version played by Alicia Silverstone and let me add, in an flawless way to who I would imagine Emma to be in real life. The setting is now put into high school which we all know is kind of just like reality and our social life with different groups and classes, judgement passed on other classmates before knowing them and the likes of that stuff.  You know, its high school.  I’ve graduated from that part of life over 10 years and I can still remember it.

While Cher is spoiled and self-centred and thinks she is always right when she’s altogether ditzy and kind of ignorant, she does have a kind heart. She cares for her father and her friends and she genuinely does think that she is doing good to the people around her (even when she isn’t).  And that is exactly the Emma I see in the novel.  Alicia Silverstone does a fine job as I mentioned before but what really is great as well is Tai who is the opposite of Cher who lacks some class and poise.  Brittany Murphy captures that role very well also as a girl who really doesn’t know this new world that she’s moved into and believes that Cher can lead her to be accepted by others even when matchmaking her to someone she convinces herself to like and neglecting where her feelings truly lie. What comes out of this is the theme of friendship and just being able to embrace who you (and your friends) are. Especially not trying to make someone like you because being different, even in all their silly and quirky ways, is what makes them who they are.

Jane Austen novels almost always like to address the whole social class theme and with the contrast of Emma and Harriet which is our Cher and Tai here, we can see it transferred perfectly in Clueless.  While the match ups for the guys are the same and successfully capture each of the male leads as well.  We have our Mr. Elton who is Elton here, with his particular emphasis on class and basically is a pretty snobby and fake person. On the flip side, we have the obvious choice for Tai who just jives well with her but Cher dislikes who is our Mr. Martin who is out of the pack of Cher’s group played by Travis.  Then, we come to our final guy, our Mr. Knightley, who is Cher’s ex-stepbrother, Josh who remains close to her family, helping her father out and always around to give her some pointers on her choices (even when she doesn’t listen). I have to say, I totally forgot that Paul Rudd was in this until I watched it the last time and then I realized that he’s super adorable in this one and its hard to not like him.  A side note would be that I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a lot of his other roles (in the limited ones that I’ve seen so far).  To wrap this up, while not a love interest, I think its fair to say that I do like Cher’s dad here more than the one in the novel, just as a personality sort of difference and that he is more enjoyable to watch even in all his lawyer-ish ways.

Its a lot of compare and contrast for this review but that’s because I’m quite impressed at how Clueless does a decent job at adapting a classic set in 1800s to the 1990s. The characters are portrayed well and Emma is fun and funny because it does in a very sarcastic way, poke fun at the style and silly teens and all that sort of thing.  It was just pure entertainment.  I can’t say revisiting it now that I don’t see flaws but I still like it a lot.

Overall, Clueless is a fun little film that is very good adaptation of Emma while adding in a modern twist to it.  The cast does a fantastic job at portraying their character with the exceptionally awesome performances of Alicia Silverstone and Brittany Murphy.  Paul Rudd is absolutely adorable as Josh.  Its just a fun trip down the 90s style and language.  Although its pretty dated for the outfits and whatnot, its still stays pretty entertaining after all these years.

Have you seen Clueless? Do you think that it is a good adaptation of Emma? 

Halloween Marathon: Halloween 6 The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

I had a research error when I first bought this series and watched this one before the 4th one and had to double back to watch that one to get that review up. Stupid, yes I know…but doesn’t really change how I actually felt about it.  It was really to get some of the story. Lets check it out, shall we? 

Director: Joe Chappelle

Cast: Donald Pleasance, Paul Rudd, Marianne Hagan, Mitch Ryan, Devin Gardner

Six years ago, Michael Myers terrorized the town of Haddonfield, Illinois. He and his niece, Jamie Lloyd, have disappeared. Jamie was kidnapped by a bunch of evil druids who protect Michael Myers. And now, six years later, Jamie has escaped after giving birth to Michael’s child. She runs to Haddonfield to get Dr. Loomis to help her again. Meanwhile, the family that adopted Laurie Strode is living in the Myers house and are being stalked by Myers. It’s the curse of Thorn that Michael is possessed by that makes him kill his family. And it’s up to Tommy Doyle, the boy from Halloween, and Dr. Loomis, to stop them all.- IMDB

**Let me just say sorry that I have to keep copying summaries from IMDB.  I already have a lot of Halloween marathon posts backed up because of overtime at work.  I literally have no time to do anything else.  I still really hope that time would slow down.  I’m going to try my absolute best to get in another review sometime today.  Worst comes to worst, I’ll extend it to November 1st 🙂 Now lets get to the actual review! **

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers isn’t all that bad as a horror movie.  I found it was more mystery than anything.  Sure, he runs around slashing people to get to Jamie’s baby but its pretty predictable.  After so many, is it so hard to figure out his next move and well, that he just will never die.  When I first watched this before the 4th, I felt it was better, although it does try to pull everything together.  There were parts that was kind of fun.  I can tell you though, one thing that didn’t work for me was some of the annoying characters, and it was quite nice to see them get killed off by Michael.  Mean, yes but my patience has been especially low…

Is there really a lot of story here? Maybe more than the rest in the series in my opinion.  It wasn’t a perfect story with so many illogical things. For example, no one sees a blood trail in a public bus station or hears a crying newborn in the bathroom.  Maybe no one needs to pee before a long bus ride.  What can I say, who knows what people do, maybe back in the days, everyone’s bladder works a million times better than now? However, I did appreciate that it tried to bring back older characters when they grew up.  This is where I’ll start looking at the actors.  For once, I know an actor in this! Paul Rudd! I was trying to figure out who he was the whole time.  He plays Tommy Doyle and he was rather likeable.  I just don’t know why he felt the absolute need to stop Michael and felt it was his mission, so he was in all means a hero.  

 

About now, I’m starting to feel extremely horrible for the character of Dr. Loomis.  He always gets caught up in these things and we all learn one of the reasons why in this one.  The doctor even retired from all this to get away and just live life, but he always has to get involved even with a cane.  He is the connection of all the Halloweens (except the third) and it gives it a lot to like and some flow from the previous installment.  

 

Overall, The Curse of Michael Myers is alright at best.  I didn’t hate it except for some annoying characters but they exit relatively quick.  I liked that I know Paul Rudd, who probably was a nobody back then but at least I know who he is.  It works hard to connect the stories and build up on what its all about.  If you did start watching the series, you won’t hate watching this one to follow up the previous one.  🙂

I still have to watch Halloween H2O in my busy schedule.  I don’t have the absolute last one (Resurrection?) and I won’t have time to watch it, so I’m going to postpone it.  Suffice to say, my work schedule is putting everything off a bit but I’ll aim to get everything (Halloween-related) up by Friday.